Cinema
Floating Clouds
浮雲
Mikio Naruse · 1955
Synopsis
After the defeat, Yukiko, a penniless typist, returns to Tokyo to find Tomioka, a married man whose mistress she was in French Indochina during the war, where both worked for a forestry service, according to AlloCiné. He had promised her he would divorce, but says he cannot leave his wife, who is ill. To survive, she becomes the mistress of an American soldier; he begins an affair with a married woman. Yukiko, however, remains attached to him.
Context
The film adapts a book by Hayashi Fumiko published in 1951, in an adaptation by Mizuki Yōko and with cinematography by Tamai Masao. Produced and distributed by Tōhō, it was released in Japan on 15 January 1955. Another master of Japanese cinema of his time regarded it as a true masterpiece, according to the Carlotta Films dossier. The film was restored by Tōhō and presented at Cannes Classics in 2025, before a new release in French cinemas.
Who it is for
About two hours in black and white, on a liaison that continues in spite of everything, in the Japan of the defeat.
Prizes and reception
Awarded prizes in 1956 by Kinema Junpō, the Mainichi and the Blue Ribbon, it has been ranked since 1999 among the three greatest Japanese films of the century.